Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm a bit late to report you guys about the mods I did to my 4001 similar to the ones proposed in this thread.

I resoldered the volume pots to act as independent bass cuts for the both pickups.
(there is thus no volume control on this bass)

The results are more an all or nothing situation.
With the volumes on full there are no caps in the circuit, with the volumes off the sound goes through the capacitors.
Everything in between is quite unusable because the current coming from the pickups seems to choose the 'easiest way out' at some point, which results in all or nothing, of course accompanied by a big loss in highs because of the pots.
I could have saved me the trouble of resoldering the whole thing and have left the two switches in, but this way it looks better.

As for sounds this operation leaves me with a nice variety.
One of the nicest new sound I got out of it is both pu's selected with a cap on the bass pu and both tone controls off.
This results in a sweet but growling sound very like the sound a fretless bass would produce.
Very nice!

For now I'll leave the whole thing like it is, as I'm actually fed up with resoldering the same bass over and over.

Hey Bob, is it still possible to get the larger version of that file? I'd like a copy if so...
Thanks!

PLEASE MAY I ALSO HAVE "THE FILE" ?
THANX FOR YOUR TIME !

Sure, I just got my computer going again so it might be a few days, but if you want it sure. One problem I and others have encountered is that when you lower either volume you also lose some treble. If that doesn't bother you try it, if it does I suggest putting in a separate 5th knob for the cap control which I haven't tried yet but am sure would work without treble loss.

Thanks Bob! I'll wait for the file.

Regarding the tone change when you reduce the volume, what about putting a .001 cap on the volume pot like in a Tele? I've heard that you can put a resistor in series with that .001 cap to lessen the over bright effect you can get sometimes with that.

Actually if I understand you correctly Greg it does the opposite, as you lower either volume it cuts the brightness not a lot at first but gets pronounced at around 3/4 volume and under. But I'm going to try it anyway, how are other basses wired with two volumes and one tone? For example there are plenty of basses wired that way and none of them experience treble loss. I haven't had any time to experiment with it since I moved back to the US. a few weeks ago, I'm still getting things in order here. I would really like to work out this bug.

Well, hopefully they are on their way.

Bob, the usual deal with the Tele briight cap is that it keeps an even level of brightness as teh volume goes down....rather than having the tone change as teh volume goes down as on most guitars. The .001 cap on the volume control CAN be too much however and makes the guitar overly bright. I've heard you can put a resistor in series with the .001 cap on the volume control, and then the effect still works, but it isn't as over the top as without the resistor. I haven't tried it myself.